Share Your Stories and Help Make the Delaware River Safer For Recreation

The Safe and Healthy Delaware River Petition

It’s difficult to imagine that just 70 years ago, the Delaware River along Philadelphia was a “dead zone” for aquatic life and too polluted for on-water recreation. Today, thanks to the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 and the work of environmentalists, migratory fish have made a resurgence and people of all ages head to Philadelphia’s and Camden’s waterfronts to kayak, canoe and participate in other activities that bring them in direct contact with the water, in what is known as “primary contact recreation”. 

While the Delaware River’s restoration and the waterfront’s revival is a triumph for environmental activism, there is more work to be done. The Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC), Pennsylvania’s and New Jersey’s water quality standards for the section of the river along Philadelphia and Camden only protect “secondary contact recreation”, which means that water quality only needs to be good enough to support activities involving limited contact with the water, such as fishing. As a result, water quality standards – which establish limits for concentrations of harmful bacteria, like fecal coliform and enterococcus – are inadequate for protecting the health and safety of everyone who enjoys primary contact recreation activities like kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding, jet-skiing, wakeboarding, waterskiing. 

In March of 2020, Clean Air Council along with a coalition of organizations submitted the Safe and Healthy Delaware River Petition to the DRBC. This petition calls upon the DRBC, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to conform with the Clean Water Act and to tighten the water quality standards for this section of the river (mile markers 108.4 to 81.8) to protect primary contact recreation. Under the Clean Water Act, Pennsylvania and New Jersey must either defer to DRBC’s water quality standards or apply more stringent standards. Since the Clean Water Act mandates that water quality standards must protect all recreation activities already taking place on the waterway, Clean Air Council documented numerous primary contact recreation programs in Philadelphia and Camden to prove to the DRBC, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that primary contact recreation is thriving and therefore must be protected with improved water quality standards. The petition’s findings include:

• Over 20,000 children and adults annually participate in Independence Seaport Museum’s kayaking, canoeing and paddleboat programs.
• Aqua Vida hosts stand-up paddleboard tours and facilitates paddleboard yoga and acro (a practice which combines elements of yoga and acrobatics) classes at Penn’s Landing.  300 to 400 people have participated each year since 2014.
• Approximately 400 children and adults kayak and canoe each year on the Delaware River with Urban Promise’s programs in Camden, which include Urban Boatworks, Urban Trekkers, and the annual Paddle for Promise event.

You Can Help Make the Delaware River Safer for Recreation

We need your help! By sharing your stories, photos and videos, you can help show the DRBC, Pennsylvania and New Jersey that primary contact recreation already takes place on the Delaware River along Philadelphia and Camden and that the public must be protected!  

Send Clean Air Council Your Testimonials, Photos and Videos

If you have participated in primary contact recreation activities, or if your organization facilitates primary contact recreation programs, we encourage you to send us a brief written or video-recorded testimonial about your experiences, along with pictures or videos documenting your on-water experiences. For extra impact, consider sharing your testimonial on social media using the hashtag #mydelawareriver and tagging @cleanaircouncil.

Check out our guides to learn how to create an effective testimonial and how to submit your testimonials, photos and videos:

Guide for Organizations – bit.ly/OrganizationsGuideMyDelawareRiver  

Guide for Individuals – bit.ly/IndividualGuideMyDelawareRiver 

Submit your Materials – bit.ly/ShareYourRiverStory or email  MyDelawareRiver@gmail.com 

Sign On to Support the Safe and Healthy Delaware Petition  

We invite all concerned community members and organizations to sign on to support the Safe and Healthy Delaware River petition.

Organizations  can sign on to the petition here – bit.ly/SafeHealthyDelawarePetition 

Individuals can sign a letter of support here – bit.ly/SafeHealthyDelawareSupportLetter 

If you circulate the sign-on for the petition on social media, be sure to use the hashtag #mydelawareriver and tag @cleanaircouncil.

For more information about the Safe and Healthy Delaware River Petition, watch this webinar featuring presenters from Clean Air Council, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, PennFuture and Environment New Jersey.

Together, we can make the Delaware River along Philadelphia and Camden safe for primary contact recreation for generations to come!